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The Loosest Cannon in the Universe - Lou Scannon

Lou Scannon is a legend, in his own head at least, but he’s fast becoming a firm favourite with Scannonites.

Lou was raised as an orphan by a GCPF orphanage. That’s the Galactic Coalition Police Force who took over the known universe in a coup some years before our flight of fancy with Lou begins.

To set the scene, Lou is Captain of the spaceship Raging Hormone. He leads, well motley crew might be a bit of a compliment, but they are definitely an interesting group.

Having been brought up in a GCPF orphanage, it’s little surprise that Lou then joined the force, what is a surprise is that when a fellow student made a mistake, Lou took the rap, and was unexpectedly dishonourably discharged. That fellow student is, despite having graduated and seen active service, now Lou’s second in command, Vic. Now Vic is an interesting character, he constantly wears a radiation suit for the very good reason that if he doesn’t, he turns into a werewolf.

Then there’s the ship’s cat, well she’s actually the pilot, and a cat-woman. Crysta is beautiful, the object of various affections, especially from Lou.

To complete the crew there’s Eric, the engineer, not at all sure what he is. Then there’s the triplets, told apart by the different glasses they wear. The last member is MAL-Function, the Medical Assistance and Life Function medical droid, not quite the paranoid android, but no EMH either.

From the first, Lou Scannon advertises himself and his crew as mercenaries, which is only part of the reason Captain Tarpa of the GCPF is after him. The other half - Crysta - his renegade fiancée.

The above may just give you a clue that this series is not exactly the most straight laced ever - tongue firmly in cheek - No Lou! Put Crysta down, keep your tongue in your own cheek. It’s funny, lively, twisted, references Star Wars a good few times, but as they say on the promo for issue eight - “Because every sci-fi comedy has to parody THAT film…” - and it’s just all together rather oddly intelligent.

Lou Scannon has seven issues so far, so here’s a quick rundown.

Issue 1 - The Wolfman of Astrotraz
This issue sets the scene. The GCFP set a trap for Lou, and catch him, sling him in jail, Astrotraz, where he gains some important leads. Thankfully the crew rescue him, but they only get away due to the inventive use of some magnetic business cards.

Issue 2 - Dyme a Dozen
In search of the truth about his past, Lou follows the lead from Astrotraz and goes hunting for the bartender, at the Dyme Bar. (Well you didn’t really think the references would restrict themselves to Star Wars parodies did you?) The bartended in question was Bartholomew, aka Bart, Ender. And keep an eye out for the Robrothel.

Issue 3 - One Previous Owner
This is the story of how Lou came to be in possession of the Raging Hormone, a craft he never quite paid Dax for.

Issue 4 - Predator
Answering a distress call, Lou leads his crew onto a space station working on experimental weapons, they wade through unimaginable horrors where in an attempt to save Vic from being killed, they gun his attacker down with one of the experimental weapons, won’t tell you what happens, but Vic ends up with the replacement radiation suit he needs.

Issue 5 - Fad Deity
In this offering we go back a little to the aftermath of the escape from Astrotraz, when Phil Erishaw is thrown from his life to a desert island planet. Fuelled by alcoholic fruit juice and hallucinogenic lizard skins, he starts to see Lou as a deity.

Issue 6 - Loose Cannons
After tracking down Bart Ender, Lou heads of to Amper in search of his past. While the Karragos Pirates lie in wait, looking for something that Dax may well have hidden on the Raging Hormone. Look out for Tribbles on this trip.

Issue 7 - To Hull and Back
This is the most recent offering, and all I will tell you is two things (1) it’s interesting to see Tarpa’s take on Lou’s actions and (2) that in the middle of space with one engine already crippled, when the power surges and the lights go out, Lou has the kind of reaction that we will all identify with - “We’re going to have to reset all the fucking clocks, AGAIN!”

The pages of this title are black and white which gives it a rather modern classic feel. As with all comics, don’t just look at the obvious art work, check the details too. There are even QR codes on a couple of covers. The covers are full colour and often subtly referenced, look out for Blade Runner, Alien, Mars Attacks, GTA and even Uhura references, there are probably others that I’ve missed too. I have heard from some reliable sources (the writer) that there’s a good chance of some colourful development - and I’ll keep you informed as I hear more.

Lou Scannon isn’t readily available in comic book stores, I’ve picked up every copy I have at various ComiCons over the last couple of years, but you can get them from the website, www.louscannon.co.uk (no surprise in that URL right). The only thing I have to add about this comic series, is that I hope the clock doesn’t run out on Scannon any time soon.

Gail lives in her own private dungeon populated with all the weird and
the wonderful she can imagine. Some of it’s very weird, and the odd bits
and pieces are a bit wonderful. Well okay, she lives in Swansea with
her husband and daughter. And the world’s most demanding cat. To find
out more about Gail, check out www.gailbwilliams.co.uk - Dare you!

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